PDA

View Full Version : Speed63's Endurance Race - long time round



speed63
30th December 2008, 10:18
Firstly big thanks to Scrivy and Chris for having the foresight, knowledge and courage to run this event. Endurance racing is great fun.

This, my first race since crashing in the first round of the Vic series. The bike has been sitting in the shed for the winter. Thanks to Kawa10 , Billy and Choppa for helping out big time to get the bike back on the track.

In a weak moment I decided to enter the superman event but hey its one of things you have to do, right?

Arrived at the MotoTT pit 32 yesterday morning and Jrandom, Kiwifruit and Biggles were all set up and not long after Matt Bleck arrived. Great crew and nice to meet you all.

First practise - dry - Went out for three laps and scrubbed in new Metzeler Racetecs and pads. Thought I would go for it in the next qualifying session. Bad decision.

The rain came!

The weather was looking to set in wet so the pits were a hive of industry with wheels off, compressors running and tyres strewn everywhere. I didnt have spare wheels so got the guy changing tyres at the Chris Mitchell truck, to change to wets, thanks man. Fitted the wheels but missed the next qual session(My pit crew were late!). Start at number 14.

Set off Le Mans start and got down to business just trying to get into a rythm and suss out the wets and set up changes I had made. All felt okay. Standing water and planing going into the Sweeper was fun, ahem. Did one stop for fuel as had no idea how much we would use.

At about the 2 hour mark I clipped the white line going into the chicane a little hot off the main straight and went down, bugger. Bike was okay so with a few repairs got out again. Riding a little conservatively until my crew said get racing! The next challenge was to see if the wets would last. Kept off the racing lines to run in the wet section to keep tyres cool as could feel them going off. Last 15 minutes felt good and picked up pace a little. In what seemed a relatively short time the White flag came out and I had finished. Big congrats to the winners. Thanks to my crew and supporters.
How did some guys ride 30 minutes with one foot peg?

Thanks to Metzeler for the great tyres.

kiwifruit
30th December 2008, 11:07
Great effort Mark, well done! :sunny:

speed63
30th December 2008, 11:36
Thanks Allan. Mate you did the business, road tyres and the mighty FZR. well done :clap:

Billy
30th December 2008, 11:41
Well done Mark.Good to see you back out there again

racerhead
30th December 2008, 12:12
Good going getting to the finish after the spill:niceone:

Hell good going getting to finish either way 3 hrs is a long time to keep race pace

emaN
30th December 2008, 12:14
sucked to see you go down man, but stoked you were able to get back on 'n finish! well done!!!

prettybillie
30th December 2008, 14:12
Good on you for getting back out there after the fall. I heard a number of riders saying they had a whoopsie moment in the same place.

speed63
30th December 2008, 15:48
Well done Mark.Good to see you back out there again
Thanks Billy for the awesome job you did mate.

Good going getting to the finish after the spill:niceone:

Hell good going getting to finish either way 3 hrs is a long time to keep race pace
Cheers...bit of luck in not too many broken bits

sucked to see you go down man, but stoked you were able to get back on 'n finish! well done!!!
Thanks Eman..appreciate it:sunny:

Good on you for getting back out there after the fall. I heard a number of riders saying they had a whoopsie moment in the same place.
ye I heard a few riders had moments there, I knew it too but me thinks maybe bit tired after 2 hours!!

icekiwi
30th December 2008, 15:50
Mate I've got to take my hat off to you...
Took my kids and watched the race....shithouse bloody weather,but 3 hrs of it!!..saw heaps of slides only one of the offs took some guts thats foresure..
Awesome effort in those conditions

Sue VFR
30th December 2008, 16:58
Well done Mark. I only crewed and I was absolutely knackered last night! Can only imagine how you Supermen felt! Great event :clap:

jrandom
30th December 2008, 19:15
At about the 2 hour mark I clipped the white line going into the chicane a little hot off the main straight and went down, bugger.

I was just behind you at that point. That 'scritchscritch' binning noise always gives me the shits!

Finishing that race alone was a job and a half for sure. Respect.

:niceone:

vtec
31st December 2008, 09:34
Binned nooooo. I also hit my fair share of white lines, but was lucky enough to not stay on them for long, they are lethal even in the dry. Can't they get grippy road paint like you see on the GP circuits?

speed63
2nd January 2009, 10:26
Mate I've got to take my hat off to you...
Took my kids and watched the race....shithouse bloody weather,but 3 hrs of it!!..saw heaps of slides only one of the offs took some guts thats foresure..
Awesome effort in those conditions

See you in next years event aye!


Well done Mark. I only crewed and I was absolutely knackered last night! Can only imagine how you Supermen felt! Great event :clap:

Thanks Sue, great pitting with the MotoTT crew. IMO the riding was easier than crewing or marshalling. Tough day.

speed63
2nd January 2009, 10:29
Binned nooooo. I also hit my fair share of white lines, but was lucky enough to not stay on them for long, they are lethal even in the dry. Can't they get grippy road paint like you see on the GP circuits?

You did Blardy well VTEC, congratulations.

I think Taupo has just used road paint.

speed63
2nd January 2009, 10:33
I was just behind you at that point. That 'scritchscritch' binning noise always gives me the shits!

Finishing that race alone was a job and a half for sure. Respect.

:niceone:

haha..you think it gave YOU the shits, I had to pit LOL.

Big respect to you Dan, a lot of bike on road tyres to punt around...well done

kawa10
2nd January 2009, 12:30
awesome speedy63. congrates to all who did it. mamoth effort. glad the bike held together for you. thanks to you and billy for your patience and help to get it ready. so proud of you's.

speed63
2nd January 2009, 15:03
awesome speedy63. congrates to all who did it. mamoth effort. glad the bike held together for you. thanks to you and billy for your patience and help to get it ready. so proud of you's.

Bike was sweet and ran real strong. You did a good job Stevo. now just to work on the rider:laugh:

Matt Bleck
7th January 2009, 09:54
Good on ya Mark, see you next year!!

Biggles08
7th January 2009, 16:04
At about the 2 hour mark I clipped the white line going into the chicane a little hot off the main straight and went down, bugger.

Yup....inside white line was slip-per-ry my friend! I did it once and locked my front end totally to the left....forks hit the stoppers and my front slid about a meter to the right at about 90kph....still have no idea how I didn't drop it!?!



How did some guys ride 30 minutes with one foot peg?


Well one of them was a x2 WSBK champ and his bloody fast protege Jamie Rajek....I on the other hand had an awful time trying to ride around only having one footpeg for the last 15min as mine had vibrated loose between turn 2 and 3....did anyone notice it? I did....every friggin lap....bloody footpeg...lol!